Lacrosse is the fastest-growing team sport in South Hampton Roads among children and teens, both girls and boys.

It's the fastest-growing, in part, because it has had so far to come. Although the sport has been a fixture at some Southside private schools for years, the area remains a lacrosse backwater.

But the tide is turning.

"Between 2006 and 2007, the number of players grew by 40 percent," said Chip Meade, president of HRLax, the Hampton Roads chapter of U.S. Lacrosse.

Registration for HRLax youth programs - for ages 4 to 18 - has reached 1,700. The girls' game is mushrooming at the fastest clip. On Saturday, nearly 70 teams will compete in an HRLax-sponsored tournament at Princess Anne Park in Virginia Beach.

Flashing sticks, length-of-the-field runs, give-and-go plays and frequent shots characterize a sport that incorporates some of the same team principles as basketball. Proponents call it "the fastest game on two feet."

The growth of the game is most evident at the high school level. In local public schools, lacrosse has not achieved varsity status but is growing as a club sport.

Nine Southside public schools field boys teams; five have girls teams. Since many players aren't introduced to the sport until the ninth grade - HRLax's grassroots efforts are changing that - the enthusiasm of club teams exceeds skill levels.

"We're not anywhere near Baltimore, D.C. or New York," said Meade, who played in high school in Baltimore. "That kind of quality play is not here yet."

Bishop Sullivan coach Mike Burke agreed: "The best teams here are just average compared to the best teams in Baltimore and on Long Island."

In Maryland and parts of New York, baby boys have teethed on lacrosse sticks for generations.

"My father put a stick in my hand when I was 8," said Tom Duquette, who grew up in Baltimore, was a four-time All-American at Virginia and is in his 27th year as boys lacrosse coach at Norfolk Academy. Lacrosse, he said, "has a rap that is sort of justifiable: that it's an affluent game that belongs in the private school domain. But it's not that way anymore. It's not even close."

Half-facetiously, Duquette said, "You're an 11-year-old boy and somebody says, 'Here, run after the ball. And if somebody else is running for the ball, you can whack him with a stick.' I think he's going to like that."

The boys game is physical, allowing hockey-style checks. The players wear helmets, padded gloves, shoulder pads and protection for the arms and ribs. The girls play a less rugged - and less expensive - style, the only protection is goggles and a mouthpiece.

For both genders, the preppy sport has gone mainstream. It's booming in nontraditional locations such as Colorado, Florida, Ohio and Oregon, where public schools embrace the sport as a spring activity that involves lots of kids.

Locally, the boom has required some adroit juggling by HRLax. For example, there are 13 boys referees for Hampton Roads, two work each game. It doesn't seem possible that 13 officials could work about 220 public and private school games. But, through some resourceful scheduling, they do.

Another sign that lacrosse is struggling to keep pace with interest: the shortage of coaches at all age levels. Few locals grew up with the game.

Despite its growing pains, HRLax is surging, but boosters aren't feeling love from all quarters. Although its growth helps broaden the scholastic sports landscape, lacrosse is viewed as a threat in some places.

 

There's a small turf war going on. The lacrosse camp believes the sport's growth is being obstructed behind the scenes.

"Baseball coaches oppose it," said Eric Hodson, boys high school commissioner for HRLax. "They fear they'll lose players."

Said Mark Kelly, an integral figure in HRLax since 1995 whose son Ryan plays at Virginia, "Virginia Beach will be the last to come around because the soccer coaches are a very powerful group."

It's hard to know if lacrosse supporters' fears are overstated or real, but there are only so many tax dollars and so much field space to go around.

Club lacrosse at Princess Anne is in its third season, but boys coach Richard Blovad said his team was allowed to practice on school grounds for the first time this year.

In the mid-1990s, Maury was the first public high school in the area to create boys and girls club teams. It was done with the idea that, in a few years, lacrosse would become a varsity sport. It has not.

Mike Caprio wasn't at the school then but, since taking over as principal, he has been a supporter of lacrosse and even hands out varsity letters to team members. But Maury remains the only Eastern District school with a team.

While acknowledging there are socio-economic reasons that set Maury apart, Caprio added, "Other schools are reluctant to start lacrosse because only a cadre of kids participate in sports. If another sport comes in, it takes away soccer players."

Caprio said he figures some Eastern District teams will never field lacrosse teams because finding players would be too difficult. The same goes for other schools in the Eastern Region.

"I see this as a way to include all kids who want to play a sport," Caprio said. "I don't think we should deny kids the opportunity."

In sheer numbers, lacrosse rivals soccer and field hockey as a participatory girls sport at some public schools. The numbers game extends to college opportunities. In the South, more state universities are introducing women's lacrosse, making it one of the largest emerging scholarship markets in intercollegiate sports.

"Lacrosse, I'm convinced, is taking the place of soccer," Caprio said.

Not immediately, though, and probably not until it gets varsity status in more places.

"If it keeps growing at the younger levels, eventually you're going to have 60 kids at almost every high school who want to play lacrosse," said Burke, a product of public school lacrosse on Long Island. "What's going to happen then? The schools are going to have to respond."

 

So far, the state's only public school varsity lacrosse teams sanctioned by the Virginia High School League are in Northern Virginia and Central Virginia.

Initially, schools couldn't meet state standards for varsity status, which required every district school to field a boys and girls team. B y 2005, the VHSL softened its stance: It let the lacrosse schools come together as a regional entity, which opened the door to a state playoff - one for which Hampton Roads public schools are not eligible.

HRLax wants to use the same template, with lacrosse schools combining forces to form a conference eligible for state championships. Locally, school administrators listened to arguments in favor of a loosely knit regional lacrosse conference but tabled the proposal for future consideration.

"We've been through every aspect of the political process," Kelly said, "from school boards to city council to athletic directors."

But principals won't recommend lacrosse as a varsity sport until it gains a better foothold. According to VHSL rules, before a sport can be considered, it must be played in more than half of a region's schools.

High school programs are growing on the Peninsula at Menchville and Tabb and in Yorktown at Grafton. In addition to Maury and PA, the boys game is played at Cox, First Colonial, Kempsville, Kellam, Great Bridge, Churchland and Hickory on the Southside. HRLax hopes to add three more Beach District teams in 2009.

The ranks of Southside girls teams include Maury, Cox, PA, First Colonial and Great Bridge. It's progress, but there are 39 schools in the Eastern Region. Lacrosse has a long way to go to meet VHSL requirements.

Given its demographics, Virginia Beach looks to be fertile ground for the sport. But proponents of varsity lacrosse shouldn't get their hopes up too soon.

"As far as our district is concerned, any sport we've started, (it) started at all the schools," said Bruce Phelps, the Beach District's coordinator of student activities. "Right now, interest across the board isn't there."

First-year Maury boys coach Ed Woodson, whose two sons have excelled in college lacrosse, said varsity designation is "pretty much inevitable. It's like thunderclouds off in the distance, but it will explode and then varsity recognition will be there."

Blovad suggests a conservative timetable of five to seven years. Not until the enrollment of 1,700 players doubles, he said, will schools begin to feel pressure.

"How does a principal answer parents who ask why you're not providing equal tax dollars to their child's sport?" he said. "There's no way that administrators can answer to the taxpayers and not give them what they want."

A handy prejudice against lacrosse results from its cost. The boys game can be pricey.

"It's not as expensive as football, but it can run about $200 to outfit a player," Meade said.

A lacrosse stick can run more than $100, though $30 sticks are available. But the cost of the helmet, gloves and body armor adds up. With taxpayers sensitive to increased expenses, HRLax intends to subsidize varsity programs.

"We would be very interested in helping fund a conference of high school teams to help get them going," said Steve White, HRLax treasurer.

HRLax, said Franklin Hudgins, whose son Chris plays for Maury,

wants club teams to be able to say to school officials, "Look, we're giving you a ready-made, self-sustaining thing. The start-up costs won't be there."

Boosters aren't asking for money - only respect.

"These kids are putting in the time like every other athlete," said Hodson, whose two sons play for Menchville. "What's missing from their experience are varsity credentials. Give them that varsity letter. They represent the school."

The lacrosse pipeline is flowing freely. This spring, there are five more boys teams than there were in '07; the girls clubs increased by two. But, while lacrosse is rapidly emerging, it's still somewhat in the shadows.

The young people who play and the adults who support them wonder how fast lacrosse could grow if more schools moved the game into the sunlight.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com